Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967) was an American writer of poetry, fiction, plays, children’s literature and non-fiction works. He was one of the central figures in the literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Born in Joplin, Missouri, he spent a year at Columbia University and worked at several odd jobs before his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, was published by Knopf in 1926.[1]

He is best known for the poems "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and "Harlem", which contains the famous lines "What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?", the Simple stories, and the autobiography I Wonder as I Wander.